Elder Watkins Japan Nagoya Mission: Nihon ni ikemasho!

Me with my Ichi man en

Me and the classic map picture :)

Which means let's go to Japan!

   Last Weeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkk!!!!! At the MTCizzle. It's so strange to think time has gone by so fast, yet I feel like I've lived here forever. I'll give some more thoughts in just a moment.

    Flight plans! We will be waking up early Monday morning flying out of SLC at 8:30am going to... Detroit Metro Michigan! Nope, I'm not making this up. We're going to arrive in Detroit at 2:10pm that same day. Then we will fly out of Detroit at 3:30pm and go straight to Nagoya Japan. We should arrive there at 6:55pm the next day. Don't ask why, I have no idea. There we will meet Kazuhiko Yamashita Kaicho (president) and be welcomed to the Japan Nagoya Mission!

     The sad part is that the Fukuoka 4 will be taking a different flight. I shall miss these brethren. They are good friends and good missionaries.

      We also have our group of new Nihonjin Senkyoushi flying out with us. They are great! There are 5 of them, all Shimai. One of them actually speaks English as her first language. 3 of them will be flying with the Fukuoka 4 and two of them are going to Nagoya with us. One of the Nagoya ones, Aso Shimai is our Travel Leader. Funny thing about her; she shared her testimony Sunday and said in clear English "I am not Chinese. People have been saying to me 'Nihao', but I am Japanese. It's Konnichiwa" so since then we have fun saying "nihao" to her, she always laughs and says 'nihao' back to us.

       Another one of them, Kawamura Shimai shared her testimony and said "You all try so hard to say it in nihongo, so I will try eigo" and she shared her testimony in English to us. They are so awesome!

       Moving on, I saw a familiar face yesterday. It was new missionary day and I was hosting as usual, when I stumbled upon a group of new missionaries going to Arizona and one of them said hey to me. It was Sierra Call from good ole Florence! It was sure cool to see her again, I will try to send a picture to yall if I can later next week. She did say to tell mom hi. Pretty cool.

       So here are my thoughts as I exit the MTC; I am not the same person I was when I came in. I have learned the ways of teaching by the spirit and I can share my testimony in Nihongo. I have learned the importance and depth of this great work. I've met an Apostle and many investigators, and made amazing friends who I shall never forget. My teachers, Huefner Sensei, Tsukamoto Sensei, and all the rest have been an inspiration to me. My Branch Presidency has taught me a lot about how to care for others and serve the Lord. I know this is the Lord's work.

Zone 27 at the Provo Temple!

        In a past MTC Devotional that I got to watch, Jeffery R. Holland said this: "I often hear missionaries say 'after my mission I'm going to return to real life' no, no, no, no, NO! This IS Real Life, or as real as your life's ever gonna get. Capital 'R' capital 'L'." he continues, "Don't let your mission end when you return home." My thought is this; the MTC is hard, missions are hard, but they are so great. The Savior's life was hard, the hardest in fact, but His work was great. Elder Holland in the same talk mentioned that Moroni, Peter, Paul, and others had many trials and they might have known that they would fail. But perhaps, they saw our day, they saw us in the MTC. Missionaries and Temples all over the world. And they did it for us. Moroni in particular wrote to us in the latter days saying 'you can do it'.

     I walk about the MTC with excitement that soon my brothers, Sheldon, Graham, and the rest, I pray, will someday be here. And they will learn and grow. And my missionaries, Elder Phillips, Elder Houghton, and the rest were all here. I'm excited about missionary work. I feel a little bit as I did when I left home, I don't know what to expect, but I know the Lord is with us. From Utah to Detroit, to Japan, and South Carolina, He is there.

      Please pray for us as we travel and do this work, and I shall continue to pray for you all. There isn't anyone from home that I don't mention in my prayers every now and again. I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you all, ganbarimasu! (Do your best!),
Cullen E. Watkins 長老